By Daisy CL Mandap
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| A total of 63 travelers from Manila tested positive on arrival in HK in past week alone |
Despite all direct flights from Manila being effectively halted Wednesday, 14 more Filipina domestic helpers tested positive
for Covid-19 with mutant strains on Wednesday, Jan. 5. They were among 38 new
confirmed cases reported by Hong Kong authorities, which took the city’s latest
tally to 12,799.
In the past week alone, a total of 63 travelers from the Philippines tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong or while in quarantine, most of them carrying the two mutant strains linked to the highly infections Omicron variant. Sixty of them were foreign domestic workers, while the remaining three were returning residents.
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All but one of the new Filipina arrivals flew aboard Cathay Pacific’s flight 906 on Jan 1, and tested positive on their third-day test while in quarantine at various designated facilities. The 14th infected passenger came aboard AirAsia’s flight ZZ126 on Jan 2.
Cathay’s Manila to Hong Kong flight was suspended for two weeks on Jan 3, after its first batch of seven passengers from its Jan 1 trip tested positive on arrival. The latest batch raised to 20 the total number of infected passengers from this particular flight alone.
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AirAsia followed suit on Jan 4, when nine of its passengers on its flight two days earlier tested positive on arrival. With today’s sole new infection, the total number of infected passengers on this flight rose to 10.
Philippine Airlines flight PR300 was also barred from flying to Hong Kong on Jan 1 when six of its passengers tested positive on arrival in Hong Kong. An additional 14 cases from this flight have been detected since, rounding up the total tally to 20.
The first flight to be suspended was 5J272 operated by Cebu Pacific Airlines. Three of its passengers initially tested positive on their arrival on Dec 29, and 10 more were uncovered in the succeeding days.
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All the suspensions were, however put to naught by Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s announcement Wednesday that a flight ban for six countries heavily infested with Omicron cases, including the Philippines, will be enforced starting Friday, Jan.7 and will last for two weeks or until Jan. 20.
The move was taken not just because of the unprecedented number of travelers arriving mostly with the highly dreaded variant, but also because of a local outbreak of Omicron cases designated as import-related.H Officials said a flight ban was the only way to stem the surge in infections which could overwhelm hospitals.
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In its latest report, the CHP said that of the new cases, 34 were classified as imported, three were import-related while one was a local case.
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| Experts fear the highly infectious Omicron variant might have already spread in the city |
Of the three import-related cases one involved a 13-year-old girl who had lunch with her mother at the Moon Palace Restaurant in Kowloon Tong where an outbreak was linked to a Cathay aircrew who skipped quarantine. The two others were family members of another Cathay aircrew who was able to go home after testing negative at the airport.
The local case pertained to a 42-year-old male patient who tested positive for Covid-19 with mutant strains, but had no travel history and did not go to any high-risk place. Follow-up investigations revealed he had regularly passed by Victoria Park on his way to his work in North Point, where a group of women with ties to the Moon Palace cluster danced regularly.
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An overnight lockdown of the man’s residential building in Tuen Mun did not yield any new case.
CHP said that in line with regulations, the Department of Health meted a two-week suspension on the following flights after a number of their passengers tested positive on arrival. These are:
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AC5015 operated
by Air Canada, which carried five passengers from Toronto who tested positive
upon arrival on Jan 4;
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LH796 operated by
Lufthansa German Airlines which arrived in Hong Kong from Frankfurt, Germany on
Jan 3, and had six passengers who tested positive on arrival, and
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CX845 operated by Cathay
Pacific, which arrived from New York on Jan 4, and had seven passengers who
tested positive upon arrival
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